Above the Weeping World
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Albums:
Top
Above the Weeping World
- Artist: Insomnium
- Rating:
- Release Date: October 17, 2006
- Total Time: 52:56
- Type: Lyrics are included with the album
- Genre: Rock
Review
When bad boys mature, they don't necessarily quit being bad boys, but they do become more complex and multi-faceted. They may evolve into the deep-thinking Pedro Almodóvar of All About My Mother, Talk to Her and Bad Education rather than the younger Almodóvar, who had so much fun with screwball dark comedies like What Have I Done to Deserve This and Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down. They may evolve into the Marlon Brando of The Godfather, instead of the punky young Brando of A Streetcar Named Desire. And in death metal, that quest for maturity has given us the nuanced world of melodic death metal -- a world that death metal's stubborn, myopic purists denounce as watered down, but a world in which engaging albums like Above the Weeping World are created. Anyone who doubts that death metal has more than one flavor (ultra-fast, amelodic and consistently vicious) needs to give this 52-minute CD a very close listen. Insomnium's sense of melody and harmony is striking. Exquisitely crafted, the songs on Above the Weeping World demonstrate that the term "melodic death metal" is no oxymoron for Insomnium. The most extreme thing about this Finnish band continues to be Niilo Sevänen's lead vocals; some singers in melodic death metal (and its very close relative symphonic black metal) offer an extreme-vocals/clean-vocals contrast, but the vocally uncompromising Sevänen sticks to a straight-out-of-hell type of growl. Unfortunately, Sevänen still makes the lyrics hard to understand; that was a problem on Insomnium's 2003 recording Since the Day It All Came Down, and it remains a problem on their follow-up Above the Weeping World. For that reason, this 52-minute disc only merits a good rating instead of an excellent one. But even so, Above the Weeping World is an enjoyable, worthwhile effort that fans of melodic death metal need to be aware of. ~ Alex Henderson, Rovi| Above the Waterline (2008 Album by The MCP Band) | |
| Above the Weeping World [Bonus Track] (2006 Album by Insomnium) |
Related Videos:
Top
Above the Weeping World
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
Top
Above the Weeping World
| Above the Weeping World | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Studio album by Insomnium | ||||
| Released | August 9, 2006 (See release history) |
|||
| Recorded | April 7 – May 14, 2006 at Fantom Studio | |||
| Genre | Melodic death metal | |||
| Length | 52:56 | |||
| Label | Candlelight Records | |||
| Producer | Samu Oittinen | |||
| Insomnium chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |    [1] |
| Sea of Tranquility | [2] |
| CoC |   [3] |
Above the Weeping World is the third studio album by Insomnium. It was released on August 9, 2006 in Europe and on October 17, 2006 elsewhere by Candlelight Records. A music video was made for "Mortal Share".
During its first week the album peaked at #9 on the Finnish album charts (week 39/2006).
The album's lyrics have been influenced (and occasionally taken) from classic poets like Hölderlin, Edgar Allan Poe and Finnish classic Eino Leino. The last track of the album, "In the Groves of Death" lasts about ten minutes, and its main theme is heavily inspired by Leino's poem Tumma, the ending poem of his saga Helkavirsiä. The entire poem "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes" by English poet Francis William Bourdillon is used as a chorus in the album's third track "Drawn to Black". Above the Weeping World has received extraordinary reviews both in Finland (e.g. SUE magazine 10/10))[4] and abroad (e.g. Kerrang! 5/5),[4] and the album debuted on the Finnish album charts at the 9th position[5] (week 39/2006), which is a remarkable achievement for a melodic death metal band. At the same time Insomnium embarked on their first full European tour, playing 36 gigs in six weeks (5.9 - 15.10), in 15 countries.
|
Contents
|
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Gale" | Ville Friman | 2:41 |
| 2. | "Mortal Share" | Friman, Niilo Sevänen | 4:00 |
| 3. | "Drawn to Black" | Friman, Sevänen; chorus lyrics taken from a poem by Bourdillon | 6:00 |
| 4. | "Change of Heart" | Friman, Sevänen | 4:31 |
| 5. | "At the Gates of Sleep" | Sevänen | 7:05 |
| 6. | "The Killjoy" | Friman, Sevänen | 5:23 |
| 7. | "Last Statement" | Sevänen | 7:32 |
| 8. | "Devoid of Caring" | Friman, Ville Vänni | 5:40 |
| 9. | "In the Groves of Death" | Friman, Sevänen, Vänni | 10:08 |
|
Total length:
|
53:00 | ||
| Japanese bonus tracks | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Length | |||||||
| 10. | "Vicious Circle Complete" | 5:12 | |||||||
| 11. | "Unmourned" | 4:49 | |||||||
| 12. | "Numen Divinum" | 5:30 | |||||||
These tracks are taken from Demo '99:
Personnel
Insomnium
- Niilo Sevänen − vocals, bass guitar
- Ville Friman − guitar
- Ville Vänni − guitar
- Markus Hirvonen − drums
Additional Musicians
- Keyboard Arrangements By Aleksi Munter; keyboard parts composed by Aleksi Munter, Ville Friman & Niilo Sevänen
- Antti Haapanen: Additional Vocals on tracks 6 & 9
Production
- Arranged and Produced by Insomnium
- Engineered & Mixed By Samu Oittinen (between April 7-May 14, 2006)
- Mastered By Minerva Pappi (June 5, 2006 at Finnvox Studios)
Other
- Band photos by Ville Kaisla and Jussi Särkilahti
- Art direction by Ville Kaisla and assisted by Olli-Pekka Saloniemi
Release history
| Country | Release Date |
|---|---|
| Europe | August 9, 2006 |
| Worldwide | October 17, 2006 |
External links
References
- ^ Allmusic review
- ^ "Sea of Tranquillity review". Seaoftranquility.org. 2006-09-27. http://www.seaoftranquility.org/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=4237. Retrieved 2011-09-09.
- ^ "CoC review". Chroniclesofchaos.com. http://www.chroniclesofchaos.com/reviews/albums/2-4440_insomnium_above_the_weeping_world.aspx. Retrieved 2011-09-09.
- ^ a b http://www.insomnium.net/articles.html I N S O M N I U M // official homesite
- ^ http://www.insomnium.net/ I N S O M N I U M // official homesite
|
|||||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Albums
Copyright © 2012 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.
Read more
Mentioned in
Above the Weeping World
(2006 Album by Insomnium)
Above the Weeping World [Bonus Track]
(2007 Album by Insomnium)
Insomnium
(Rock Band, 2000s)
» More